Dengue patient dies in Peshawar

Naik Nazeer was brought to the hospital by relatives from Karo Dara area.

PESHAWAR: A dengue patient lost his life at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar early on Saturday, confirmed officials.

“Naik Nazeer, along with another patient, was brought to the hospital by relatives from Karo Dara area of Upper Dir district,” Syed Jamil Shah, spokesperson of LRH, told The Express Tribune.

“Both the patients were earlier diagnosed with dengue, but after an examination of the blood samples at Shaukat Khanum Laboratory, it was revealed that only Nazeer was suffering from dengue,” Shah added.

Other doctors said that it was a case of a severe hemorrhagic fever.

Nazeer was shifted to the male Medical-B ward of the hospital where he was kept under intense care, but lost his life on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa health department director-general Dr Muhammad Sharif denied that any dengue patient was admitted in any hospital across the province.

“Naik Nazeer was a complicated case and did not test positive for dengue,” he told The Express Tribune. “His samples were not even tested at Lady Reading Hospital. How can they claim [that he was a dengue patient]? He died because his internal organs stopped working.”

A few days ago, he said, two patients were brought from Quetta and admitted at the Dera Ismail Khan District Headquarter Hospital. Doctors said they were suffering from either dengue or congo. “The blood samples showed they were congo virus patients. They recovered and were discharged.”

He said that it is the hospital’s responsibility to treat dengue and congo patients and there is a 98% self-recovery chances for those diseases. “They [the hospitals] claim that they are well-equipped to treat patients suffering from dengue.”